Day 4 / Monday, June 8th. Today is June 16th.
It’s scary how my memories are gradually fading. I really need to review the photos and audio recordings.
This day was a closing day for museums and libraries. So I went out into the city.
First, I went to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
A week has passed, and I’m trying to recall my fading memories. All I remember is that this huge staircase leads to the fourth floor. In other words, it’s a staircase for four floors. And because it was a weekday, there weren’t many people around, and an elderly couple was giving a guided tour. The guide was leading the group in broken Japanese.
Inside, I took many photos of documents and handwriting from that era. Reaching the fourth floor, there was an enormous seated statue of Chiang Kai-shek.
Going out.
I headed to the 228 Peace Park with a glass of 酸梅湯 in hand. There were quite a few people feeding the pigeons in the park.
There’s a radio tower in this park. It’s the Taiwan Radio Broadcasting Station’s broadcast tower(台湾広播電台放送亭). No sound comes from inside. Apparently, it was designed to allow sound to be heard when it was first installed. The Emperor’s surrender broadcast was also relayed from there.
I took out my FM radio and listened. To my surprise, like a densely packed residential area, four or five radio stations were allocated within a single MHz band. I could hear the sounds of numerous radio stations without even turning the dial once. Of course, each station played different programs. From voices with a complaining tone to stations playing pop songs, and at the very top, Perfume was playing. I was surprised by the density, so different from Chiayi. I listened for about five minutes.
After that, we moved to Dihua Street. It’s a shopping street where buildings from the Japanese colonial era remain. The streetscape is reminiscent of Kobe or Yokohama Chinatown. We walked along the eaves, moving our feet, when a torrential downpour hit us. Shivering from the pouring rain, we went to a bookstore for a while.
It started raining heavily.
Soaked to the bone by the rain, I headed to 唐唐書店, looking for a specific book. I also planned to ask about Tongzhi literature at 女書店 afterward. Both are located near National Taiwan University, in a bookstore district. In the end, I couldn’t find the book I was looking for, and even after visiting some used bookstores, I had no luck.
I entered a 女書店. First, I disinfected my hands with hand sanitizer. I asked the shopkeeper, “Do you have any communities for 同志文学 or 同志詩?” After prefacing her answer with, “This is a bookstore (書店)…” she was very helpful. At the time, there were several customers in the shop, and at first everyone was silently reading books, but after this incident, everyone started to talk little by little. Until then, everyone had been seriously reading their books. I might have been a nuisance. I wrote this:
I went to a 女書店 and asked the manager how to find the background and community of fellow poets and fellow literature. Looking back, I probably caused quite a bit of trouble. The manager was at a loss for words. But gradually, the other customers there helped both the manager and me, using my English as a basis. Up until then, everyone had been quietly reading books, so it felt like a community was slowly forming, and it was very heartwarming. I wondered if this is what it means to be a fellow poet.
ヤミヤミ。
From there, I gradually began to wonder, perhaps presumptuously, if this is what it means to be a 同志. What I realized was the low barriers and relaxed atmosphere—perhaps unique to Taiwan—that welcomed outsiders like me. Before I knew it, I was becoming one of them, as if to say, “There were never any boundaries to begin with.” What could be the reason for this?
Round and round and round. I had a video call with the curator at night while thinking about things like that. It got late, and there seemed to be someone outside my Airbnb room, and I didn’t feel like eating, so the Don Tacos I bought at 7-Eleven unexpectedly became my dinner. I went to sleep feeling hungry.
Day 5 / Tuesday, June 9th. The day of departure.
I really had to buy some souvenirs. With that in mind, I went to a tea shop near my Airbnb. I had actually planned to go further afield to Kyoto and buy tea leaves at a tea shop in the Nakagyo Ward area, but I ran out of time. But on the other hand, it was good that it was local. It was a small shop. I could hear the sound of the rain, and there was no background music. An old man, a woman who seemed to be his daughter, and an old woman asked what I was doing there and said, “Come on in and have some tea.” They boiled a kettle over the hearth and made tea with that water. The tea got stronger and stronger. Apparently, tea bags are written as “茶包”. I bought some tea bags of high mountain oolong tea and some loose tea leaves.
I’m heading to Treasure Hill Artist Village, my residency starting in September.
After crossing a road that felt like a rollercoaster, I arrived at something that looked like a temple or shrine.
Afterward, I joined the Village tour with the second group of Resident Artists.
A huge and magnificent temple.
It’s built inside and then surrounded by.
Shelter.
Said that “you can use for performance”.
A park with banana trees.
I could see an antenna.
It’s a local shop. When I told everyone that they basically have all sorts of food and other things there, they all went “Wow~”.
Guagua, the idol of THAV. Their name is actually different.
There were even fields.
Because it was located a little distance from the main city of Taipei, it felt like a village. It gave the impression of a thriving village. Various buildings were clustered together.
Afterward, I discussed the research plan with the residence team. “Do the research yourself, but we’ll lend you the space and reach out to people, so let us know when you’ve finalized it! Let’s solidify it.”
Travel. From Taoyuan to Kansai for a homecoming. Thank you for your reading.